HARD NEWS 16/11/01 - Sing, Shave and Fly Kites

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GOOD DAY
MEDIAPHILES ... New York deserved none of this. Its triple
calamities - September 11, anthrax attacks and, now, this
week's air disaster - can be feasibly be put down to three
different causes - external terrorism, an enemy within and
an unsafe plane respectively.

But they add up to a
powerful and punishing chain of events. That the mood of
insecurity and pessimism could be partially lifted by news
that the American Airline crash was "only" an accident shows
just how bad things are for the people who live there.

The
destabilising and twisting effect of recent events is not,
of course, confined to New York. It turned the course of
Australian politics, looks set to bring down the government
of Germany and, over the weekend, induced our governing
coalition's junior partner to try and eat itself.

It's not
hard to sympathise with the Alliance rank and file's horror
at the party's part in an American war. There are valid
questions to be asked, and the ability to ask such questions
is one of the elements we ought guard in a democracy. The
idiots who wrote to the papers declaring an act of treason
had been committed by the Alliance and its members would
presumably be happier in a country where they don't tolerate
debate. Iraq, perhaps.

But, for better or worse, we
committed our little band of SAS troops weeks ago, and
everyone in Parliament bar the Greens voted to send them
off. Our subsequent initiatives have been aimed squarely
towards our traditional roles in medical support and
peacekeeping. For the Alliance members to now change their
minds would make no difference to the prosecution of the
war. It would, however, expose New Zealand to the public and
private wrath of the American state and destabilise the
first centre-left government in a decade.

The party
members might wish to repeat two words to themselves:
Eden-Albert. In the recent Auckland municipal elections, the
centre-left vote was split over some policy principle that
was no doubt terribly important to those involved. There
were, believe it or not, both Green and Independent Green
candidates. As a consequence, the vote was split, the
incumbent lost and C&R Now waltzed through, handing John
Banks his council majority. Not a good result.

Jim
Anderton escaped from the party conference with the promise
of a caucus "review" that ain't likely to add up to much.
The Alliance has, meanwhile, forgone all the political
capital it could have expected from paid parental
leave.

But no one is behaving very well in politics at the
moment. Surely Helen Clark could look resolute without
trying to be Boadicea? Surely Phil Goff could come up with
security measures that don't put a bonfire under our civil
liberties? And surely Bill English could have emerged from
hybernation with something better than a bizarre promise to
vote *against* the government on matters of national
security?

It was all shunted considerably sideways, of
course, with the stunning collapse of the Taliban forces in
the north of Afghanistan; so quick and so unexpected that
the western powers had to politely ask the Northern Alliance
to wait outside Kabul while everyone worked out what to do
next. They didn't, of course, and TV pictures brought a few
stark reminders of the Alliance's grisly track record.

You
don't need me to issue a list of caveats here; suffice to
say it ain't over by a very long shot. But for some
thousands of people, this week has brought profound relief
and the chance to things humans ought to be able to do:
sing, shave and fly kites.

The other big international
event was, of course, the World Trade Organisation rmeeting
in Dohar. Freed of the showbiz of street demonstrations, the
146 nations in attendance appear to have actually made some
progress. Of course, you wouldn't have known that from
listening to the likes of Rod Donald and Jane Kelsey. The
agreement for a new round aimed at reducing and eventually
eliminating agricultural export subsidies was worthless,
they maintained, because Europe and America wouldn't do
it.

So on that basis we should give up on climate change
agreements, then? Because farm subsidies are a really major
environmental issue. They result in millions of tonnes of
agri-chemicals being used to grow food for which there is no
real market and they hurt developing economies. And fishing
subsidies? Pure insanity.

The fact is that the agreements
in the Uruguay Round did permanently moderate the lunatic
largesse of Europe and America. That took nine years to
hammer out, and the next phase might take just as long. But
to dismiss it all as unachievable, to continue to pretend
that the WTO is irrevocably a citadel of evil, is just sour
and cynical.

Add in the agreement on curbing drug patents
- to the horror of the big drug corporations - and you
absolutely have a result here. New Zealand argued for the
incorporation of labour standards into the next WTO round,
and we didn't get it - in part because the idea is rejected
by developing nations. But we got to put the argument - and,
with Mike Moore and all, I'm proud of New Zealand's
contribution here.

I'm also proud of the government for
finally getting the PACE scheme in place this week. You
could call it the arts dole, but it's more a recognition of
the arts as a real job. You can now call yourself an artist,
declare your income and have it assessed across the time it
took to make. The welfare's historical contribution to our
cultural life is one of our dirty little secrets - nobody's
been prepared to talk about it. Now, it's right out there in
the open.

Anyway, so the Australians had an election - and
how awful and embarrassing was it? Very. To make it worse,
their rugby union and rugby league teams lost and their
all-conquering cricket side was so very nearly skittled by
little old New Zealand in what turned out to be a thrilling
draw. Yes, cricket is a game in which thrilling draws a very
possible.

Still, at least they've got a good band;
Gerling. Best new Aussie band in ages, actually, although
I'm sure they'll be claiming Shihad any day now. And they're
playing next Thursday at the 95bFM Private Function.
Speaking of which, no Hard News next Friday. I plan on being
unwell - or, at least, unavailable - G'bye!

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